Hopper door frame



March 12, 1957 w. WINE I-IIOPPER DOOR FRAME Filed July 10, 19 55 3 Sheets-Sheat 1 Invent or: William E. Wine h as Ahozrney March 12, 1957 w. E. WINE HOPPER nooa FRIWE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 10, 1953 mm 0 1 v mw. TQE m. .m m w w y B 1'9 his Attorney March 12, 1957 w. E. WINE HOPPER noon FRAME {Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July. 10. 1953 Invdntor: William E. Wine his Attorney United States Patent Ofice 2,784,679 Patented Mar. 12 1957 HOPPER DOOR FRAME William E. Wine, Parker, Va.; William J. Gibson and Orville Ingram, executors of said William E. Wine, deceased, assignors to Unitcast Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 10, 1953, Serial No. 367,306

8 Claims. (Cl. 105-280) This invention relates to railway rolling stock and more particularly to a door frame for the hoppers of railway hopper cars which door frame is so designed as toma terially facilitate the assembly of such frame with the hopper.

Prior art door frames have proven relatively satisfactory insofar as performing the ordinary functions of such a door frame is concerned but considerable difficulty has been experienced and the manufacturingcosts have been materially increased by reason of the difliculty in assembling the door frame with the hopper and securing the same thereto in an accurately located position.

Hopper door frames are normally relatively heavy cast steel structures and are commonly secured to the hopper by welding. Since these frames must be accurately located some means must be provided to perform the locating function and this has usually taken the form of fixand in view of the weight of the door frame must be relatively heavy with the consequent difficulty of manipulation.

The use of such fixtures is inconvenient and time consuming since the same must be moved into position for each operation and subsequently removed and also if large scale production is contemplated a relatively large number of such fixtures must be provided.

Obviously, therefore, any development which will permit proper assembling and welding of hopper car door frames in place without the use of costly and inconvenient Welding fixtures represents a material step forward in the art and even though it may incertain instances be necessary to utilize simple clamping or supporting means for holding the frame in place during the Welding operation, such means need not be accurately formed and will present little inconvenience.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a door frame for railway hopper cars which will perform all of the functions commonly performed by such door frames and in addition provide means for facilitating the assembly of the frame with the hopper and holding the same in place while being Welded.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a door frame for railway hopper cars which need not be manufactured to close tolerances and which will compensate for variations in dimensions thereof and for variations in the dimensions of the hopper.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a door frame for railway hopper cars which may be properly assembled with the hopper of such cars and accurately located without the use of welding fixtures.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a door frame for railway hopper cars which may be placed on the hopper, moved into final position and held therein by a simple bending operation requiring noother tools than a hammeror other impact device.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a door frame for railway hopper cars which may be accurately located, held in position and welded to the hopper without requiring the use of welding fixtures and which cooperates with and requires no modification of the conventional hopper and hopper door structure.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a transverse vertical sectional view of the lower portion ofone half of a railway hopper car, the door, door frame and certain of the surrounding structure being shown in elevation:

Pig. 2, a detail sectional view on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Pi g. 3, a fragmentary side elevational view of the outer side of the hopper with the hopper door in closed position; i

Fig. 4, a fragmentary detail sectional view ,on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5, a front elevational view of the door frame o. this invention;

Fi g. 6, a side elevational view of the door frame show in Fig. 5; i i i Fig. 7, a sideelevational view similar to Fig. 6 but looking at the opposite side of the door frame of Fig; 5;

Fig. 8,a sectional view on the line 8-8 of Pig. 5:;

Fig. 9, a sectional view on the line 9-9 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 10, a sectional view on the line 10-10 of Fig. '5; Fig. 11, a sectional view on the line 1l- 11 ofFig. 5; Fig. 12, a sectional View on the line 12-1 2 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 13., a sectional view on the line 13--13 of Fig. 5.

With continued reference to the drawing there is shown a portion of a railway hopper car having a body '10 and provided in the bottom of the body with a hopper 11 for permitting convenient discharge of lading from the car. The hopper 11 is entirely conventional in construction and \as will be seen from an inspection of the drawing is inclined downwardly from the bottom of the car and is closed by a door 12 hingedly mounted at 13 on the car body 10, the door 12 having an inwardly extending marginal flange let for cooperating with a door frame to be presently described. The hopper 11 is normally dupli-' will operate together. Conventional latch means 16 may be provided to hold the doors in closed position to prevent the escape of l-adi'ng from the car.

in the form of hopper shown in the drawing a reinforcing angle member 17 is secured to the hopper 11 and extends around three sides thereof, a flange 18 of the angle member 117 projecting beyond the edge .19 of the hopper to provide an edge 20cooperating with the door frame of this invention in a manner to be presently described. In the form illustrated there is also provided a cross bar formed by an angle member 21 which is provided with a downwardly inclined flange 22 extending across the upper side of the hopper 11 adjacent the open end thereof, the edge 23 of the flange .22 being disposed in substantially the same plane as the edge 20 of flange 18, the flanges it and 22 together forming a flange bounding the opening in the hopper. Obviously, if desired, the reinforcing member 17 may be omitted or a different, type of reinforcement may be utilized and while the cross member 21 is conventional, other forms of. cross membersmay be utilized.

Since the hopper structure is entirely conventional, as stated above, further description thereof is considered unnecessary, it being, of course, understood that this hopper construction may be varied to provide any of the various hopper formationscommon in the art.

The hopper door frame 24 of this invention is best shown in Figs. to 13 and may include a central portion 25 having a substantially plane inner face 26, the purpose of which will be presently described. From the central portion 25 a marginal flange 27 extends inwardly and as shown in Figs. 5, and 11, this flange conforms to the flangeld of the reinforcing angle member 17 secured to the hopper 11. a p The door frame 24 is provided along the upper edge of the central portion 25 with a plurality of integral inwardly projecting bendable spaced :tabs 28, the purpose and use of which will be presently described. The door frame 24 is further provided with a door engaging flange 29 extending outwardly from the central portion 25 and door engaging flange 29 serves to provide a discharge opening 30 of any desired shape, that in the drawing being shown as rectangular.

In use the door frame 24 is applied to the hopper 11 with the marginal flange 27 embracing the flange 18 of the reinforcing angle member 17 with the outer edge 20 of the flange 18 and the edge 23 of the downwardly inclined flange 22 in engagement with the inner plane surface 26 of the central portion of the door frame 24. In this position the inwardly extending bendable tabs 28 overlap the downwardly inclined flange 22 and at this time these tabs 28 may be bent downwardly to the extent necessary to engage the upper surface downwardly inclined flange 22 in order to adjustably position the door frame 24 on the hopper 10, this bending of the tabs 28 serving to move the marginal flange 27 into tight engagement with the flange 18 or with other equivalent hopper structure as the case may be.

The engagement of tabs 28 with the downwardly inclined flange 22 may be suflicient to frictionally hold the door frame 24 in position while the same is permanently secured to the flange 18 by a weld 31 and to the downwardly inclined flange 22 by a weld 32 but in the event such frictional engagement is insuflicient to accomplish this function the frame 24 may be held in the position provided by bending the tabs 23 by any convenient clamping or support means.

While the spaced tabs 28 are shown in the drawing as disposed along the upper edge of the central portion 25 of the frame 24, obviously these tabs might well be positioned on any other side of the frame such as along the bottom edge. It is only necessary that the tabs be opposed on the opposite side of the frame by a flange or other hopper structure engaging part which may be drawn into tight engagement with the hopper structure upon bending of the tabs.

As shown in the drawing the tabs 28 extend inwardly from the central portion 25 at a slight inclination from the normal. This results in approximately positioning the frame on the hopper structure when the same is applied thereto and upon bending of the tabs the frame is brought to final accurate position. This slight original inclination of the :tabs 28 also eliminates any necessity for excessive bending thereof which might possibly result in undue weakening of .the metal at the bend.

The door frame 24 of this invention normally constitutes a casting with the bendable tabs 28 integral there- However, if desired the frame 24 may be fabricated to provide a unitary structure with the tabs 28 integral with one of the elements of the unitary structure, or these tabs might constitute separate elements secured to the fabricated structure in any desired manner.

It is to be noted that the bendable nature of the tabs 228 permit the same to compensate for minor variations in the outline of the hopper 11 and also to compensate for minor variations in the formation of the door frame 24, particularly the inwardly extending marginal flange 27. The tabs 28 do not in any way interfere with the welding operation and, in fact, are themselves welded to the downwardly inclined flange 22 in the same manner as the marginal flange 27 is welded to the flange 18 of the reinforcing angle member 17.

The marginal flange 14 of the hopper door 12 surrounds the door engaging flange 29 of the door frame 24 when the door 12 is in closed position and this serves to adequatelyclose the discharge opening 30.

It will be seen that by the above described invention there has been provided a door frame for railway hopper cars which is of relatively simple, rugged construction and which incorporates means to accurately locate and hold the frame in position on the hopper while being secured thereto by welding or the like thus eliminating the use of locating fixtures and at the same time cooperating with the hopper and door structure to perform the usual function of a hopper door frame.

This invention therefore materially contributes to reducing the cost of manufacture of railway cars of this type. a

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without depart ing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a reinforcement comprising an angular member secured to three sides of said hopper and having a flange projecting outwardly of the edge of the hopper and a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange ex tending across the upper side of said hopper, the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange being disposed in a substantially common plane, of a one piece integral hopper door frame comprising a central portion having a substantially plane inner face for abutting the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from three sides of said central portion for embracing said reinforcement flange, a plurality of integral bendable spaced tabs extending inwardly from lfl'lt) upper edge of said central portion at a slight inclination from the normal for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downwardly inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said reinforcement flange and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for ladin g in said car.

2. In atrailway car having a hopper, the combination with a reinforcement comprising an angular member secured to three sides of said hopper and having a flange projecting outwardly of the edge of the hopper and a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange extending across the upper side of said hopper, the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange being disposed in a substantially common plane, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having a substantially plane inner face for abutting the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from three sides of said central portion for embracing said reinforcement flange, a plurality of integral bendable spaced tabs extending inwardly from the upper edge of said central portion at a slight inclination from the normal for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downward- 1y inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said reinforcement flange and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

3. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a reinforcement comprising an angular member secured to said hopper and having a flange projecting outwardly of the edge of the hopper and a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange extending across the upper side of said hopper in opposition to the flange on said reinforcement, the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange being disposed in a substantially common plane, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having a substantially plane inner face for abutting the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing said reinforcement flange, a plurality of integral bendable spaced tabs extending inwardly from the upper edge of said central portion at a slight inclination from the normal for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downwardly inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said reinforcement flange and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

4. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a reinforcement comprising an angular member secured to said hopper and having a flange projecting outwardly of the edge of the hopper and a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange extending across the upper side of said hopper in opposition to the flange on said reinforcement, the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange being disposed in a substantially common plane, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having a substantially plane inner face for abutting the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing said reinforcement flange, a plurality of bendable spaced tabs extending inwardly from the upper edge of said central portion at a slight inclination from the normal for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downwardly inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said reinforcement flange and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

5. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a reinforcement comprising an angular member secured to said hopper and having a flange projecting outwardly of the edge of the hopper and a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange extending across the upper side of said hopper in opposition to the flange on said reinforcement, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having an inner face for abutting the edge of said reinforcement flange and the edge of said downwardly inclined flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing said reinforcement flange, a plurality of bendable spaced tabs extending inwardly from the upper edge of said central portion for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downwardly inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said reinforcement flange and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

6. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a cross member having a downwardly inclined flange extending across the upper side of said hopper and a flange bounding the other sides of said hopper, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having an inner face for abutting the edges of said flanges, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing said. bounding flange, a plurality of spaced bendable tabs extending inwardly from the upper edge of said central portion for adjustably engaging the upper surface of said downwardly inclined flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said bounding flange and accurately position said door prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

7. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a flange bounding an opening in said hopper, of a unitary hopper door frame comprising a central portion having an inner face for abutting an edge of said bounding flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing a portion of said bounding flange, a plurality of spaced tabs extending inwardly from an edge of and substantially normal to said central portion for engaging a portion of said bounding flange opposite a portion embraced by said marginal flange to approximately position said door frame in relation to said bounding flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said portion of said. hopper and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

8. In a railway car having a hopper, the combination with a flange bounding an opening in said hopper, of a hopper door frame comprising a central portion having an inner face for abutting an edge of said bounding flange, a marginal flange extending inwardly from said central portion for embracing a portion of said bounding flange, a plurality of bendable tabs extending inwardly from an edge of said central portion for adjustably engaging another portion of said bounding flange opposite a portion embraced by said marginal flange to hold said marginal flange in firm engagement with said last named portion and accurately position said door frame prior to welding of the same in place, and a hopper door engaging flange extending outwardly from said central portion to provide a discharge opening for lading in said car.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,341,612 Hankins Feb. 15, 1944 

